Red Marker
The Red Marker is a mysterious device central to the events of Dead Space. History The First Aegis 7 Incident After the discovery of the Black Marker the Earth Government began research. The research team, which originally featured Micheal Altman, studied the Black Marker and reverse engineered it for their own use. Through an accident in basic decontamination the team discovered that the genetic code written on the marker was the code for the Necromorph virus. Later on when the team was moving the Red Marker past the lab room containing the samples of the Necromorph virus , it was discovered that the Marker emits a field or "Dead Space" that stops the virus from initiating recombination and makes it go dormant. As time went on some members of the team, through unknown events, became infected and were turned into Necromorphs and subsequently quarantined. The team became overrun by their research and most of them were killed by the Necromorph infection. The remaining team, lead by Dr. Eando Dukaj, created a pedestal, that one of the members claimed to have seen in a vision, most likely made by the marker, that could amplify the "Dead Space" made by the marker in the hopes of stopping the Necromorphs from spreading, and hopefully giving them a chance at survival. The team succeeded in making the pedestal and locked the Hive Mind and the rest of the infection with it on Aegis 7. The Second Aegis 7 Incident Discovered by accident by an illegal mining colony on Aegis 7, the marker was hailed amongst some colonists as proof to their faith's credibility. Shortly after the discovery of the marker, cases of insomnia, depression and later dementia began occurring. Despite increasing cases of violence, colony management overrode P-Sec protestations and prepared to bring the Marker inside the colony itself. When the Marker was removed from its pedestal, it emitted red light and simultaneously broadcast an across-frequencies scream. Apparently taking the 'scream' as a signal, fifty Unitologists committed mass suicide; in a similar event of insanity, an extraction team engineer killed numerous members of his team and other colony personnel. By order of Captain Benjamin Matthius, the marker was brought to the USG Ishimura from the colony and a no-fly order was implemented between the colony and vessel. The bodies of all the murder victims were then sent to the ship secretly. The bodies of all the suicide victims were intentionally kept on the colony by the colony manager as leverage to have the Ishimura send him a vessel to transport him to the ship as he felt he deserved to be a part of the Marker's discovery. Days later, Planet Crack was to commence. Upon initiating the planet crack, a blackout occurred throughout the entire colony. Panic immediately ensued and people quickly started being slaughtered. It was later discovered by a colonist that the Marker's inscriptions represented a DNA recombinant code for necrotic flesh that results in the creation of The Necromorphs. With the bodies of the suicide victims as their hosts, the Necromorphs soon began running amok in the colony, killing off and transforming more colonists. The colony soon fell apart and with all the shuttles destroyed in a flight accident, it was soon completely overrun with Necromorphs. In the end, only a few colonists survived, most notably, Brant Harris. He was clearly traumatized by the events and provided rich information for the scientists aboard the Ishimura. Not surprisingly, the Ishimura soon followed the same fate as the colony and more Necromorphs were produced as a result of the Marker's removal. Through text logs found about the ship, Isaac Clarke discovers that the Marker is a divine relic of Unitology, a religion founded by Michael Altman 200 years ago. Unitologists view Michael Altman as a martyr due to his mysterious death after blowing the whistle on the Marker that was found on Earth. The Marker discovered by Altman, however, was black and not red like the one found on Aegis 7. It is revealed by Kendra Daniels that that the Red Marker was in fact a manmade copy of the Black Marker, the true alien artifact discovered on Earth. The Marker was then brought to Aegis 7 and test fired with gruesome results. It was soon decided that the marker was too unstable and was subsequently buried deep within Aegis 7. The system was then sealed off. Two centuries later, an illegal mining operation by C.E.C. rediscovered the Marker with disastrous results. For the two centuries it had been buried in Aegis 7, the Red Marker had sealed off the "Hive Mind", a massive creature that controlled the Necromorphs through telepathy. Upon removing the Marker, the creature was released and went about killing off the humans of Aegis 7, the Ishimura and the USM Valor with its Necromorphs. The Marker was brought back to Aegis 7 by Isaac Clarke in the hopes of once again sealing off the creature as well as the Necromorph infection. Though Isaac managed to return the Marker to its pedestal, which caused it to glow, this action was halted by Daniels, who returned and took the marker and attempted to flee with it on a shuttle. She was then killed by the Hive Mind; which was then defeated by Isaac Clarke. He then immediately escaped on the shuttle while the Marker remained behind on Aegis 7. It was presumably obliterated when the tectonic load the Ishimura had previously removed from the planet (with a mass of roughly a few trillion tons) was released and fell back to the planet with a cataclysmic impact. Abilities The Red Marker was able to create hallucinations, notably in Doctor Terrence Kyne and Isaac Clarke, urging them to return the marker to its proper place. In both instances, the marker created the illusion of a loved one; Doctor Kyne often conversed with his dead wife, Kendra Daniels repeatedly saw her brother (whether he is dead, or just not positioned to the ship is unknown; however, it is more probable that he is dead, as Kendra states she saw him "waving, like nothing was wrong."), and Clarke saw his ex-girlfriend, the deceased Nicole Brennan, thus making it credible to argue that the Red Marker was helping Kyne and Clarke to return to Aegis 7 and stop the Hive Mind. However there seems to be a bit of a contradiction in that almost everyone else it presumably contacted went insane and almost all of them surrendered to the Necromorphs or lost the will to live instead, although it is possible that this is unintentional and the Marker's attempt to create the Make us Whole Again hallucination causes other delusions. This could be why the Red Marker was considered unstable. Another explanation to these contrasting hallucinations is that perhaps the Hive Mind was also able to cause some of it's own. Creating different hallucinations that prompted miners to kill themselves and others, probably as a way to "prepare" corpses for the infection to take over. Speculation is further complicated because the Red Marker is in fact an imperfect copy of the Black Marker, and its discoloration might not be its only flaw; the original artifact might have behaved more consistently, or in a different way entirely. It can also be argued that the reason for the marker driving the nearby colonists insane is as a defense mechanism: by driving the colonists into destroying themselves, there would be nobody to move the marker away thus ensuring the marker could continue keeping the Hive Mind dormant. Trivia *This actually might be one of several markers. In a report to the Commander of the USM Valor, it is referred to as "Marker 3A", possibly being an enumeration in a series or generation, and the first being the Black Marker, at least one other marker exists. *Throughout the duration of Dead Space, the monitors located throughout the game will become "possessed," flashing red and having the symbols found throughout the game moving about the screen erratically. It becomes apparent that this is from the Red Marker manipulating Isaac in Chapter 11: Alternate Solutions when Isaac meets up with Nicole after Daniels attempts to escape with the Red Marker; when Isaac approaches the monitors they will turn on and start flashing red with the symbols and turn off when Isaac is at a certain distance. *There are some discrepancies between Downfall and the games. **The Red Marker appears significantly larger during Downfall. **Also in the movie, the Marker seems to have the ability to repel Necromorphs approaching it, though most likely for gameplay reasons this ability is absent from Dead Space. Although at the end of the game, when the Marker is put in place by Isaac, it created a light that kills any remaining Necromorphs nearby. **It appears to be black in Downfall, or at least a much darker red than in Dead Space, though the text inscibed on it is still red. *During game play, whenever Isaac approaches the Marker it seems to emits what sounds like several people chanting. What the voices are saying however is entirely inaudible. *A leaked design for Dead Space 2 shows what is probably the Red Marker on what looks to be a book cover, speculating that the story of Aegis VII and the Ishimura was made public. *In the Dead Space 2 Dementia trailer, the Red Marker appears in Isaac's pupil, possibly showing that the Red Marker still has some role in Dead Space 2. This could also signify that the Red Marker still has it's affects on him, even after it's apparent destruction. *Red Markers are red, because bismuth was used to replace certain elements in the duplication of the Black Marker[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4866415&id=18523496658 Facebook - Dead Space Comment on Red Markers] Gallery Image:Dead-space-20080923085718171_640w.jpg|The Marker as it was on Aegis 7 Image:PA251180.JPG|The Marker after being returned to its pedestal dse1.jpg Notes Sources See Also *Black Marker *The Red Marker (log) Category:Content Category:Backstory